Expanded after-school activities and better connections between rehabilitation, family support and community services are among the needs identified during a recent visit to the Boys Training Centre, as Saint Lucia’s Department of Crime Prevention examines ways to prevent vulnerable young people from entering further into the criminal justice system.
Research Officer Dr. Montelle Felix and Dr. Leonard Johnny met with the Centre’s management to discuss its rehabilitation programmes, operational challenges and opportunities for stronger collaboration.
The engagement forms part of a wider effort to map services for at-risk youth across government agencies, identify gaps or duplication and improve coordination among organisations working with vulnerable children.
For the Department, the visit was an opportunity to understand what support boys currently receive and where additional help may be needed.
Dr. Felix said the discussions would help the Department assess existing interventions and explore how agencies could work together more effectively. The aim, she explained, is to support “a more coordinated national approach to preventing juvenile offending.”
Boys Training Centre Manager Leanna Wallace outlined an approach that addresses several aspects of each resident’s life, including education, employment, relationships, community, health and creativity.
The Centre uses a Positive Youth Development Model, combining education and vocational training with behavioural therapy, counselling, family support and life-skills development.
Wallace explained that Individual Care and Rehabilitation Plans allow those interventions to be tailored to each boy’s needs and circumstances.
The discussions also highlighted the need for more after-school recreational opportunities and broader community-based support to strengthen prevention and help young people reintegrate into their communities.
Dr. Johnny said effective crime prevention depends on engaging directly with institutions serving vulnerable children and understanding their day-to-day experiences.
“This visit allowed us to listen to the Centre’s management, understand its operational experiences and consider how early intervention, rehabilitation, family support and community-based services can be better connected,” he said.
The Department’s wider mapping exercise will examine where existing programmes can be strengthened and where additional interventions are needed.
Dr. Felix said that work is intended to help prevent vulnerable young people from progressing further into the criminal justice system.
